Dynamic Deserts: Resource Uncertainty in Arid Environments
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Contact
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions at resource.uncertainty@gmail.com, at any of our listed personal email addresses, or by phone at (480) 727–7743.
Conference Organizational Committee:
Christofer Bang (christofer.bang@asu.edu)
received his Cand. Scient. degree at the Agricultural University of Norway, and is currently a doctoral student in Prof. Stan Faeth’s lab. He is interested in the effects of urbanization on trophic dynamics, and uses a common desert plant, Encelia farinosa, and its arthropod communities as his study system. Christofer uses mathematical models to get a theoretical understanding, and manipulates number of trophic levels, environmental stress and limiting resources in field experiments to elucidate the underlying processes and mechanisms behind trophic dynamics.
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Brad Butterfield (bjbutterfield@gmail.com)
received his B.A. in biology from Rice University and is currently a doctoral candidate in plant biology at ASU in Dr. John Briggs’ lab. He is interested in community, landscape, and phylogenetic ecology. Brad uses functional trait screening and analysis of a 75yr. dataset of perennial plant community dynamics to understand coexistence mechanisms and controls on vegetation change in hot deserts.
Brad Butterfield’s website
Bethany Cutts (bcutts@asu.edu)
received her B.A. in Environmental Biology from Colgate University and is currently a PhD student working with Dr. Ann Kinzig. Bethany is interested in issues of public education, water use and policy, and environmental justice in the Phoenix metropolitan area. She studies these issues through analysis of spatially explicit patterns of water-use, conservation education, and socioeconomic variables in the Phoenix area.
Elizabeth Hagen (emhagen@asu.edu)
received her B.A. in biology from Wittenberg University and her M.S. in stream ecology from Virginia Tech. She is currently a doctoral candidate at ASU working with Dr. John Sabo. Beth's dissertation reach focus is on how temporal and spatial variability in aquatic resource availability and structural characteristics of aquatic-terrestrial boundaries influence terrestrial consumer distributions along desert rivers.
Profile on Dr. John Sabo’s website.
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Melissa Kruse (mrkruse@asu.edu)
received her B.A. in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Anthropology in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at ASU under Dr. Katherine Spielmann. Her research is focused on how prehistoric peoples of the North American Southwest dealt with risk and uncertainty associated with small scale farming in arid regions. Her dissertation takes an interdisciplinary approach towards understanding how farming communities maintain resilience when faced with changing climatic conditions.
Melissa Kruse’s website
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Kevin McCluney (kmcclune@asu.edu)
received his BS in Biology in 2003 from Florida State. He is now in his 5th year at Arizona State, working towards a PhD under Dr. John Sabo. In general, his research examines how variation in water availability influences terrestrial animal communities. Most recently he has focused on water as a direct resource influencing trophic interactions between streamside crickets and spiders.
Profile on Dr. John Sabo’s website.
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Hoski Schaafsma (hschaaf@asu.edu)
received his B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College and is currently a PhD student in Plant Biology working with Dr. John Briggs. Hoski is investigating the legacies on modern landscapes created by human activities, with a focus on anthropogenic landscapes and patches originally created hundreds and thousands of years ago. His primary study sites are in the Sonoran Desert of central Arizona.
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Zach Stahlschmidt (zstahlsc@asu.edu)
received his B.S. with honors in animal sciences from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He is now in his third year in a doctoral program at Arizona State University under Dr. Dale DeNardo. Although broadly interested in the dynamics of the animal-environment interface, his dissertation focuses on the regulation of python egg-brooding behavior and its impact on offspring.
Profile on Dr. Dale DeNardo’s website.